Traffic information is useful for route planning by individuals and for development planning by local governments. Traditional methods of monitoring traffic flow include, for example, the use of video cameras installed on roads.
More recent methods such as those described in United States patent application publication 2012/013 0625 and European patent application publication EP 1566665 A1, rely on the use of mobile phones, in-car global positioning systems (GPS) and crowd sourcing techniques. Crowd sourcing techniques involve utilising a large group of people to provide traffic information.
For example, individuals driving on a particular road may place a cellular phone call or send a SMS (short message service) regarding their location and speed to a remote station that processes such information. In order to prompt the driver of a car to send a message reporting location and speed, the remote station may send out a request to a particular mobile phone for such information. Such a method has the disadvantage that it may constitute a distraction to the driver.
Other known crowd sourcing techniques use software on a mobile phone to transmit data at regular intervals but the information transmitted is limited in its content.